Claudia's Halloween
by KJay99
Summary: Adventure gone amock, with a Halloween bent. My first try at horror, and it's not very scary- as the rating suggests. Thx to Marie Rene, Lynnutte, Kendralynora, and LadyNRA for helping and fleshing out this idea.
1. Rough Week

**My first try at horrow, just for Halloween. I'll see how much I can get out for the holiday.**

**Happy Halloween everyone! :)**

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><p>Claudia had a rough week.<p>

First there was her lap top that just stopped working. She had to do a complete system restore on it which isn't that bad, except that she lost a research paper for school that was nearly completed and do next Friday. Then her car started making noises and abandoned her halfway to the Warehouse and she still got yelled at for being late, even though it wasn't her fault. Even Leena was pressuring her about getting out and dating, never mind that Artie was breathing down her neck about inventory.

Then there was the artifact that Pete and Myka just brought back from a particularly disturbing assignment at the San Diego Zoo. Even though the artifact was nowhere near the animals, Myka moaned as soon as she received the case file. She was still moaning about monkeys when they returned with statue of an intricate, but unimpressive looking water buffalo.

The problem arose when the unimpressive water buffalo came alive and ran away from Leena before she could neutralize it permanently for storage. A bit of panic from all in the office had Pete and Myka falling over each other and Artie screaming for someone to grab it. Claudia snagged a pair of gloves, but in the end, Artie was the only one who got a hand on it, diving headfirst for the galloping figurine and snagging a hind leg just before it reached the door leading to the Warehouse.

"Got cha!" Artie said, stretched out on his stomach, one arm before him shaking as the buffalo kicked to get free. "Oh no you don't!" Artie held on tenaciously.

As the others picked themselves up, the buffalo turned to look at Artie and snorted. Artie's eyes went wide when he looked the ticked off artifact in the eye. He could only eek out a stuttering "Ahhh…" when the buffalo spun and lowered his bone hard head to butt Artie between the eyes.

"Doh!" he cried bringing both his hands to forehead, he rolled to his back grimacing. The buffalo bellowed and ran out the door. "Gah!" Artie huffed out as Claudia stumbled and stepped on his stomach in her scramble after the buffalo.

"Trailer!" Claudia ran out the door and down the stairs followed by Artie's dog.

The animated brass buffalo stumbled at the bottom of the steps allowing Claudia and Trailer to catch up. The girl swooped down with her one hand and caught the buffalo by the tail but the animated animal twisted and kicked and broke free. Trailer barked his and encouragement but Claudia growled in frustration when the buffalo broke away. The orange dog leapt past Claudia. His four feet matched the buffalo's and he quickly caught up to the artifact. Trailer growled in excitement and grabbed the artifact behind the head and thrashed, knocking it off it's feet.

"Good boy!" Claudia was right behind the dog and got her gloved hands on the bull. She picked up the animated statue and held it up, letting it wave its hooves in the air. The twisting almost made her drop the buffalo, so she held it against her chest, using her gloved hands to try to hold onto the buffalo until Pete and Myka could get there.

Claudia tried to limit the bulls' horns by grabbing the buffalo's nose, but it tossed it's head, making it's curved horns gore into Claudia's clavicle. The girl yelled out and dropped the statue which landed with a clang on the cement floor. The bull scrambled to get it's hooves under it again, in its scramble, it caught Claudia's leg with its horn, tearing her jeans.

Trailer barked and jumped on top of the bull. The dog used his weight to hold the water buffalo down and he chewed a horn. Pete and Myka's feet pounded the floor as they ran up to the pair. Just then the buffalo shook it's head, catching the dog below the eye, making Trailer yelp.

Claudia leapt forward, ignoring the blood leaking down her sleeve. She hit her knees, grabbing the bull's horns as she slid past it and hit the shelving hard. She held on fast, determined to beat the bull artifact.

"Trailer!" She heard Artie's voice shout out, accented with panic, meaning that he was on the way.

_What am I, chopped liver? _

Suddenly the bull reverted back to its statue state. Claudia had to stop her momentum and blinked at the sudden stillness. Then she blinked again. "Why am I covered in goo?" She asked whoever was closest.

"Because-" Artie sat up off of the floor and wiped off neutralizer that was dripping into his eyes. "The spirit of Ndengei was trying to disembowel you."

Claudia spit a bit of neutralizer out dripping over her face from her soaked hair. "N-den-who?"

In response, Artie held up a gold snake figurine in his fist. He was, like her completely soaked in purple neutralizer. "The Fiji god of earthquakes. Represented as a snake." Claudia glanced up and saw the shower spigot over them. She figured that Pete or Myka must have activated it and them as a way to get the bull statue to stop moving.

Artie made his way to his feet and helped Claudia up as he talked. "You activated Ndengei when you carelessly went careening through the Warehouse!"

"I wasn't careening-" she held up. "I was doing my _job!_"

"Of activating every artifact in the Warehouse?" Artie yelled over his shoulder as he fitted the smaller snake in his hand back with the gold chest plate of a larger snake.

Claudia shook a bit of neutralizer off of her hand. "Not my fault you know! And what is with you calling for Trailer?"

"Oh! Well, the connection and all-" Artie rubbed just below his eye, the exact same place that the bull caught the dog.

"Hold up, you can feel when he gets hurt?"

Artie cringed, "Not really. More like I can feel his distress. I told you, he owns me, the psychic bond…" He flinged purple goo into the air when he pointed to his temple as he walked by her. "C'mon, and don't forget the bull!"

"Yeah, yeah." Claudia's sneakers slipped a little bit when she lifted the heavy brass water buffalo statue.


	2. Trick?

**Thanks for the quick reviews! This is late for the holiday, so I'm going ot try to jet out a few chapters to at least get the feel of the holiday out. **

**With all of the ghoulish make up and what not that I"m seeing around, I'm in the mood at least. **

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><p>A few hours after the last of the hosed neutralizer into the drains in the Warehouse floor, and verified that as many artifacts were in place as possible, the gang returned to the B&amp;B. Artie made sure that he cleaned Claudia's collar bone wound of neutralizer, and patched her up with a few butterfly bandages. Leena insisted on a hot meal to end the day and so Artie allowed an early end to the work day.<p>

Claudia thought that Leena was wound up for no reason, she let Artie stay at the Warehouse, and he was soaked too, but then again, he was in charge, and had a bed set up in his room.

So, slinging her usual bag of stuff, Claudia entered the B&B for a hot meal and sleep with the rest of the crew. She threw her bag into the reading room over the back of the couch and turned to try to help Leena out with preparing a hot dinner.

Myka passed by in the hallway. Claudia froze. Did she just see—a.. horn pop out of her curly hair? Claudia squinted her eyes in confusion and hurried to look down the hallway after her. If that wasn't a horn, then that was definitely a forked tail trailing after Myka.

_Very funny._ Claudia thought. _This has to be some prank. Did someone slip a… devil creating artifact into Myka's pocket or something?_ Either Pete or Claudia had been known to do worse.

As Claudia contemplated following Myka to watch the show, HG appeared at the top of the stairs completely covered in black leather and spandex. Claudia stopped and stared at the raven haired beauty in her S & M costume.

HG stopped at the top of the stairs. Her heavily made-up face frowned in thought. "Oh bother!" She slapped her whip against her very high heel booted leg in frustration and turned around for her room to get something she had obviously forgotten.

Claudia swallowed uncomfortably. Did she miss the office memo? Was this just—Myka and HG re-bonding after a mission away? Where did they go again to pick up habits like this? "Oh!" She said out loud. Perhaps they were both being affected by the same artifact? That though made her stop cold. Claudia quickly back tracked to her bag and started rummaging for her cell phone quickly to call Artie.

Claudia located it and rip it out of its case. "Hey Claud, whatcha up to?"

Her head popped up and she jump back three feet. Pete was standing closer than she thought he could get without her hearing. The problem was that his eyes are yellow and red rimmed. His face was shallow with dark hollows under his eyes and cheeks. Even his ears were warped into something like bat ears, long and pointed. Claudia stepped back again and hit the wall hard, but she don't notice. "Hey, what's wrong?" Monster Pete asked.

Claudia saw a monster, but she heard Pete's gentle voice, so she give him half a chance. "Um, Pete? You ah—feel any different since- erm- the water buffalo incident?" Claudia slid along the wall to the side door while talking just in case he decided or drink her blood or anything.

"What?" Pete's yellow eyes looked to the side, considering. "Nope. Same as always!" Claudia shivered as he turned his sickly yellow eyes to her again.

Claudia slinked by a mirror on the wall. Not wanting to let her eyes leave Monster Pete, but desperately wanting to check herself, she chanced a quick peek. She saw her own eyes looking back, scared but still human and Monster Pete looking behind her. "Ah- check yourself out Pete?" She nodded to the mirror.

Pete looked in the mirror. "Oh wow…" he said quietly.

"What!"

"My hair is really a mess." Monster Pete tried to smooth out his wild back hair with his claws for a moment. "But are you ok? You look really pale."

"Me?" Claudia had the least amount of problems out of everyone so far. "I'm just fine!" She scooted a little further to the door, her back against the wall.

Pete's morphed face twists into a sort of evil concern. "You really don't look so good." The monster takes a step towards her and holds out a clawed and sunken hand.

Claudia saw the claws coming towards her and tensed up. Then, Pete's wings unfurled and blocked out the lights from the room with his wingspan. She jumped and screamed, at the same time, reaching the doorway and fall backwards through it.

Monster Pete takes another step towards her and like a bullet she's up and out the door, leaving Pete's voice calling after her.

Claudia bolted through the dining room, around devil Myka- who now had two substantial red horns jutting out from under her brown curls- and through the kitchen and up the stairs. Faster than she's ever moved before, she jumped up and snatch a pull cord. She pulled it down revealing a trap door that unfolded into a step ladder. Jumping halfway up the ladder, she quickly reached back and pulled the trap door up and closed.


	3. Tower of Horrors

**Keeping up? Good! **

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><p>In the small bonus room in the tower of Leena's B&amp;B, Claudia paced the wooden planks as quietly as she could in her agitated state. Her heart beat was ridiculously high from her panic run. Running her hands down her face, she tried to calm herself into rational thought.<p>

_So far, HG, Myka and Pete are definitely affect by… well something. Is it only a matter of time before they start like- eating babies or something? Or is the change only physical? I can't take the chance that it is only physical. What if its not?_

_Ok. Claudia! Calm down!_ She took a deep and shaky breath. Maybe not everyone was affected. She suddenly stopped. What if the others weren't affected? Did she just leave Leena alone with morphing monsters? _Oh my god…_

Practically diving for the trap door, Claudia grabbed the pull string to lower the trap door, but stopped short. She squinted and wondered: Was the trap door always gray?

As she watched, the gray color moved. Dropping the string, Claudia watched as it expanded across the floor. She stood and backed up into the wall, retreating from the color until it went under her feet and up the wall behind her. Spinning around, Claudia watched the creepy color as it climbs all sides, coming to meet at the peak of the pointy roof of the Bed and Breakfast.

Claudia had to catch her breath again as she decided that that was definitely not a good sign. But- she didn't feel any different herself. Making sure that she didn't grow horns or pointy ears, Claudia then dove for one of the little windows in the room. Flipping the ventilation veins open, she got a glimpse of the rest of the building. The cheery white and blue paint was replaced with creepy dull gray and black. Claudia thought that perhaps the artifact made things age prematurely, because the B&B looked like it had fallen into disrepair. Shutters hung from one hinge and there was a gaping hole in the roof. Spider webs suddenly sprung up in the gutters and in the little room that she was in. As if on cue, a spider crawls across her hand making her jump up and shake it off. Claudia wiped her hand quickly to get rid of the creepy crawly feeling of its eight legs on her skin.

_Ok, ok. Think! Who's outside the B&B? Artie!_ Claudia reached into her pocket, then tried all of her other pockets before she had to admit that she must have dropped her cell phone in her dash for safety. _Damn it._

Hopelessness threatened to overwhelm her. Claudia backed into a corner and sunk down to sit on the ground, tears brimming her eyes. She put her head on her knees and gave herself a good cry.

After a little while, Claudia wiped her tears with shaky hands and tried to calm down. If the entire B&B was affected, it was possible that she was the only one not affected. She had to assume that everyone else has morphed into who knows what by that time. _Wait,_ she thinks, _Is there a chance that__** I**__ am the one affected?_ Claudia felt herself again for a tail. Then she remembered the mirror. **She** looked the same, while Pete was the big bat claw-y one. No, Claudia had to assume that she was the only one not affected. Better to assume that and worry about it later if she was wrong.

Thinking more clearly now, Claudia eyed the little ventilation windows, looking for an escape route. If she could get outside, maybe she would be outside of the influence of the artifact- **if** this was an artifact. Then she could run the 7 miles to the Warehouse and get Artie to turn this whole house of horrors back to normal.

The vent is small, but it was the best idea that she had, so she marched up to it and kicked it hard with her left foot. Pain shoots up from her toes and Claudia hopped on my other foot until her stubbed toe reduced to a painful throbbing. She evaluated the vent and frowned at only seeing two of the metal blinds bent. Claudia laid down on my stomach to reach the vent. Her nose crinkled as she could practically smell the rotting wood and putridness that the floor gave off. She could wiggle a few of the metal blinds but that was it. Claudia punch them in frustration and to help them loosen up so that she could remove them. A second punch lets her wiggle two of them out.

Putting her fingers through the gap, Claudia tried to feel the outside of the vent to look for anything to help her pop it off. She blinked then blinked again. Was the hole getting smaller? Claudia pulled out her hand and did a double take at it. Her hand was covered in blood from an apparent cut in her knuckles. Confused, Claudia wrapped her hand in her shirt to stem the blood. To her dismay, the vent continued to shrink before her eyes. Claudia cried out and put her left hand through the hole, in a vain attempt to hold the hole open.

Gradually, the vent opening slows its shrinking until it was only a foot wide. Claudia's whole body trembled in frustration and fear at her only option disappearing. She blinked rapidly to hold back her panic. She stood up and looked at her hand in her shirt again to check on her fingers but she pulled her eyes away quickly at the site of blood still leaking from the cuts. _Ok, that can wait. Focus_.

Then, a realization hits Claudia. The whole B&B is possessed was well as the people within. The building is actively working against her and she was stuck. As if to reinforce the theory, a strange watery motion in the creepy gray wall catches her eye.

As she looked, the wall wavers and bends, as if giving into the weight of the steeple topping the little room. Claudia took a step back from the wall and quickly looked at the other three. They are all almost melting and sagging. Claudia looked up and saw the steeple slowly sagging down and collapsing onto itself, threatening to squash her into a pool of blood and gore no more than an inch thick. Claudia's breath caught at this new threat. The walls continued to sag and close in. She ducked down to the floor and cover her head in anticipation of the room coming down on her.

Eyes closed, Claudia waited a long moment for an impact that didn't come. Shaking, she peeked up to see a wall looming over her and tilting threateningly. Claudia flinched, but still, the flimsy walls barely held.

Pushing through her fear, Claudia figured, if she couldn't get out of the B&B for Artie, then she had to go down and try to help where she could. Claudia would not be held up hiding and leave her friends to fight on their own. Terrified but determined, she quickly looked down to find the trap door before the walls can close in on her. After turning around twice, Claudia couldn't find the trap door. She fell to her knees, scrambling with both hands searching the planks of wood, leaving trails of blood. She used her finger nails to trace the rotting floor boards; breaking the rotting boards apart in places in her frantic search for the door that she knows is there, but isn't.

Claudia beat on the floor in desperation to get out but the door refused to show itself. After several minutes and several broken nails, she was forced to admit that she was trapped.


	4. Walls, Spiders and Lights!

Sitting in the middle of the little room, Claudia held her head and racked her brain for options. The walls still threatened to fall on her every time she looked at them, but they hadn't yet, so Claudia started to assume that they just wouldn't. At least, she couldn't afford to keep worrying about the claustrophobic feeling if she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't stop shaking though, the long day of Warehouse work, and fighting the buffalo and, well, reality being ripped to shreds was catching up to her. Claudia's body was starting to revolt against the constant flow of adrenaline and fear and action that she was demanding of it. Not knowing any other option, she kept thinking and fighting as best as she could.

Claudia raised her eyes, expecting to flinch at a wall ready to fall on her, but she was surprised to see it solid again. Her head popped up with this change. She staggered to my feet, and checked for the trap door, or any other escape option from this horrible torturous house and the monsters within, but the floor was still solid, with its rotting wood being just solid enough to prevent her from breaking through.

Just then, the semi solid wall leaps at her. Claudia screamed out and jumped back as it tilted dangerously over her. Stumbling back, she hit the far wall, realizing that the whole room was swaying. Claudia had to push against the far wall to keep from falling down, until the walls tilted violently in the other direction, making her stumble and fall, as the room continues to pitch and turn.

When she fell, Claudia rolled and her shoulder hit the opposite wall hard, making her grimace. As her eyes closed, the room snapped back to level, leaving only the sound of her heavy breathing echoing in the space. Slowly, carefully, Claudia cracked her eyes open to see the room again silent and straight.

Claudia swallowed hard, her mouth dry and thirsty. The red head didn't know what else to expect, just that all of reality had gone out the window, not to return. She blinked and in the moment that her lids closed, she saw a flash of bright white light, making her flinch.

The girl's breath went ragged again and she wasn't sure how much more she could take when another flash lit up the small room, blinding her. Claudia blinked and shaded her eyes, not sure what was going on because the room went dark. More blinking finally got her to where she could see again, when two more flashes happen right after each other. Claudia thought that it must be lightning in a storm that suddenly came up and blotted out the rapidly dimming light that had previously filtered through the window. It was the only thing that she could reason, as another flash blinds her.

Claudia held her hand in front of her eyes but the cruel light seemed to bounce around the room and find her. Thinking that she could use the light to search the area outside for someone to help, Claudia stumbled towards the window. Three rapid flashes gave her a strobe light effect. She had to stop for a moment to re-orientate herself and blink the flash from her eyes. She knew that the window was right in front of her, so she took a blind step towards it in the complete and sudden darkness.

Reaching out for the glass, Claudia felt her hand brush the window. Just then another lightning flashed revealing a giant spider across the window pane. Claudia screamed and pulled her hand back, jumping at the same time. More flashes freeze framed her fall as she backed up in her panic. Then she was plunged back into complete darkness again.

Convinced that the massive hairy spider was on the inside of the glass, Claudia scrambled to the opposite side of the tiny room. She frantically tried to calm her breathing, not sure if spiders would be attracted to her breath or not. The darkness was brilliantly lit up again in hot white light. It flashed repeatedly and quickly, making her nauseous. Claudia frantically looked around the room, trying to ignore the cut up motion that the strobe lights cause. Just as she focused on the floor boards, the lights stop and she was blinded again. She held her breath and a few seconds later, the bright light starts. Claudia looked, but the giant spider was gone, or hiding. The light double flashed rapidly, making her dizzy. She tried to clear a spot on the wall during the lightning, but she was so exhausted that she hardly cared anymore. The harsh light blinded her then it stopped and the stark darkness blinded her. It continued, one extreme to the other, beating on her. Eventually, Claudia sank to the floor and held her head as the strobe lights flash around her.


	5. Eye of the Beholder

**Help with this chapter and concept came from Marie Rene.**

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><p>The front door of Leena's Bed and Breakfast flew open and the constantly dishelved supervisor blew in. "Where…?" He spun around and looked in the first room he came to. "LEENA!" He hollered through the place, not lowering his voice for the evening hour.<p>

Leena came through the doorway, "Artie? What is it?"

Artie turned quickly and jumped slightly. He shoved his glasses further onto his nose, as if to adjust his focus. "Leena?" One large eyebrow shot up.

Leena cocked her head to the side. "Artie?" she said back sarcastically, mimicking his confusion at something obvious. "What's wrong with everyone? We have people running around screaming and seeing…" She suddenly stopped and stepped closer to him. "Artie? Are _you_ seeing things too?"

Artie's face went slack and he swallowed hard. "Ah. You know what? Never mind." He charged forward rubbing his brow in his classic stress move, but then it served to hide his eyes as he glanced then diverted his eyes away from Leena as he charged past her into the kitchen. "We need to make a batch of T.V.C.D."

"Goo eater?" Leena followed the boss into the kitchen followed by Myka. "Artie, why do we need a batch of T.V.C.D.?"

Artie, by then had opened the refrigerator and pulled out three tomatoes. "We have at least one, and I suspect two, maybe more, cases of neutralizer ingestion." He turned around and froze, his eyes locked on Myka.

The thin brunette agent stared back a second, then looked at Leena, then back at Artie, who only blinked. Myka tilted her head, then waved her hand back and forth. "Hello Artie…."

Artie shook his head, snapping out of whatever he just saw. "Ahh…" He quickly averted his eyes to the ground and blindly shoved the tomatoes into Leena's hands. "As quickly as possible please." As soon as his hands were free, he shruged out of his loose sweater vest and blindly manages to approach Myka and drape it over her shoulders. "Just-just… there…" He shaded his eyes from the girls in the kitchen as he made his way to the kitchen door, bumping into counters and chairs from his limited vision. "I'll get um… HG to ah.. help out with the—the… Wells!"

A few moments later, HG bustled into the kitchen. "Yes?"

"Ah! Go…" Artie started then suddenly snapped his heads back down covering his eyes again, shading them from what he was seeing. "Um…" He attempted to cover his obvious hiding by rubbing his brow, fooling no one. "Leena…" he motioned into the kitchen broadly and scoots by HG by turning his back to her and sucking in his gut to squeeze by. "I- I'll be uh- with Pete."

Before he completely left the kitchen, Artie paused for a moment, considering a backwards glace.

Instead, he shrugged through a shiver and quickly scampered away from the kitchen.


	6. Apart at the Seams

Eventually, the strobe lights stopped. She didn't believe it at first, but they did. A miserable pittering rain started ticking against the roof, throwing a chill in the air. Claudia lifted her head and notice that the unnatural darkness of the room has lifted as well. She could see again in the dim light, not that it mattered. There was nothing that she could do anyway.

Claudia sat a long time in the darkness, waiting for the house, or the monsters within to make their next move. She wasn't disappointed. Her heart was beating so hard that it was making her shake and it was hard for her to focus her eyes, but she swore she saw a darkness around the roof of the steeple.

Blinking hard, the girl raised her eyes. Undoubtedly, a dark mass was at the top of the walls and getting darker, or larger, or both. Claudia was and stared out of exhaustion and because there was nothing else to do. A dread grew in her gut as it became undeniable that the dark stuff was growing, falling from the steepled roof.

She lowered her eyes and tried to block out the fear rising in her from this new, slow and silent thing happening. But bravery wasn't working for her just then and she shook worse than ever.

Claudia shook her head. Freaking out wasn't going to help and she knew it. The street wise techy tried to swallow with her dry throat, and shakily stood up. She figured that it was best to confront things, if she could, at least.

The black stuff was coming apart, splitting into drips along the wall. Claudia took a deep and steadying breath and looked at the blackness dripping down to eye level. Her breath caught as her throat tightened when she realize what it was. She couldn't stop her trembling hand from reaching out and touching it. The girl choked in disgust when the warm the stuff sticks to her fingers. She turned her hand over, finger tips dark in the night light with blood.

Shaking and gasping, Claudia stepped back from the sick stuff. She's horrified that it continued to ooze downwards. She turned to see that it wasn't just the one wall, but seemed to be coming from the side walls too. She forced herself to turn around, taking in all of the bleeding walls. Then, Claudia saw something that rattled her bones. On the opposite wall, the dripping blood was smeared into one word: REDRUM.

Claudia screamed a short yell at the wall. She took in a breath and in that instant she catch something in the corner of her eye, spin around and came face to face with glowing green eyes behind a gas masked figure.

A scream, unlike anything ever heard on this earth came from her before she heard her head hit the floor with a thud.


	7. Reality out the Window

**Thanks to my speedy reviewers. Hopefully this will clarify a few issues.**

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><p>She didn't know how long she sat and trembled in the blackness. She knew that she came to with a jolt; scared to move, scared not to. Claudia didn't look for the blood, or spiders or anything else but she buried her head in her arms and pulled her knees to her chest. She couldn't get out; she couldn't escape. She couldn't even help the others. She couldn't make this stop. She didn't even try to stop shaking anymore. She was just cowering against whatever onslaught was next.<p>

"Claudia!" She didn't move. A voice was soft and far away.

"Claudia!" It was closer.

"_Claudia!"_ It was Artie.

She wanted to cry out, but could only whimper. There was no way for him to get in and no way for her to get out and she knew it, so Claudia kept her head buried in her arms clutching her elbows around her drawn up knees.

She heard scraping and some scuffling then a distinct creaking. A light came across her closed eyelids, yet still, she didn't move.

"Claudia?" Artie's voice was soft and very close.

She swallowed and let a shudder rack her whole body before her dared to raise her eyes. Slowly, she peeked over her crossed arms.

There, in the middle of the floor was a great hulking beast lit from below in a hellish red light. Its eyes were wide and showed the white around glowing red pupils. Its gaping mouth was full of sharp but rotting teeth and spewed poisonous, thick, green puke down its front. The monster slapped a hugely clawed hand on the floor and came towards her suddenly.

Claudia screamed and scrambled back from the muscled, panting form. **"N-n- no!"** She hit the far wall of the room, knowing that she was trapped with this thick and dangerous beast.

The creature lashed its tongue back and forth, spewing sick on the walls to thickly slide down. Slowly, as if it knew that she had no escape, it stalked towards her. Claudia's breath came in panicked gasps and she shook, awaiting her fate, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the evil glowing eyes.

The monster, purposefully, like it was enjoying the game, reached its sharp claws out for her. Claudia cowered against the wall, trapped with no way out. Just before it reached her, she closed her eyes and trembled all over. She hoped for a quick death, but knew that she wouldn't get it.

"Claudia?" She barely heard the concerned whisper over her own rapid, gasping breaths. She flinched at a pressure on her arm. A second later, the girl realized that it was a gentle touch and did not feel of claws.

Shaking with fear, Claudia coughed against the parchness in her throat but kept her eyes squeezed shut.

The pressure increased slightly. "Claudia?" It was Artie. She knew his voice. She knew that she could trust it. She could smell him.

Struggling to not hyperventilate, Claudia fought against herself to open her eyes. Not wanting to and wanting to desperately. She tried to steady herself and cracked her eyes open.

The puking beast was almost on top of her. His red eyes pierce into hers and his teeth gnash inches from her face. Claudia screamed with all she had. Her legs pushed hard away from it and she moved against the wall until she was trapped in the corner. The beast tossed its head and lunged at her. Claudia screamed again, in full panic, trying desperately to do whatever futile actions she could in her last moments of life. The beast's tongue flops to the side, out of its mouth grotesquely, drooling eagerly as it closed in on the girl.

Claudia screamed and cowered into the corner when she was grabbed by both arms and shaken. "_**Claudia!**_ Snap out of it!"

Strong hands held her arms still against the violent shaking of the rest of her body. Keeping her eyes closed she stuttered out. "A-Artie?"

She heard a huff of relief. "Yes."

She couldn't seem to get her heart beat and breath under control. Almost as a weak defense, Claudia held up her hands shakily and felt rough fabric. "A-Are you s-sure?"

A more amused huff this time. "I'm sure." His thick fingers adjusted their grip and he felt for her pulse. "Listen to me. Claudia, you need to calm down." He ordered tersely.

Claudia didn't open her eyes again, but she had to make sure. The image of the horrid beast puking sick rattled her, but she knew what she had to do. Deciding to sacrifice her fingers to the beast's sharp fangs if she was wrong, Claudia forced her shaking hand to follow Artie's shoulder to his neck. Clamping her eyes tight because she expected her hand to be bitten off, her trembling fingers brushed the old man's cheek. He patiently held still and Claudia felt the roughness of whiskers, substantial nose, and tiny round eyeglasses. "Artie." she quietly breathed out. The teen leaned forward and rested her forehead against his chest.

He pried one fist off of her arm to rub Claudia'sshaking back as she struggled to calm down from the long ordeal. "Take it easy. Breathe. Just relax…everything's fine." Eventually, her breathing returned to relative normality, but the trembling continued deep in her chest. "Feeling better now?" he asks.

Claudia nodded into his chest and he pulled her off. "Here, drink this."

She pulled back from him, suspicious again. Claudia kept her eyes stubbornly closed and shook her head. His stubby, thick fingers gripped her hard. "Claudia, you have neutralizer poisoning. This is an acid that will stop the worst of the effects. Sort of… neutralizes the neutralizer, so to speak." She could envision him tilting his head in half amusement at his description. Artie dropped his voice and tenderly, seriously says, "Trust me."

Claudia thought for a second and hoarsely whispered, "I'm not opening my eyes." It was an easy formula. Eyes closed; Artie. Eyes open; scary monster.

She could almost hear Artie nodding his curly head. "Ok." Both his hands left her arms. Claudia kept her eyes clamped closed. Her breathing just started to pick up as she got more nervous before he spoke again. "Ok, here." She flinched, but it was just Artie's hand touching the side of her neck, guiding her to a bottle that he held to her lips. Claudia brought her hand up to take the acid medicine herself, but her hands shook too much to do any good. He kept the bottle and tilted it for her. She gripped his hand around the bottle, bumping it. "Careful, not too much." Claudia put herself completely at Artie's mercy, or at the beast's who happened to be doing a fantastic impersonation of him.

Artie tilted the bottle and she felt a caustic, acidy liquid in her mouth. Claudia flinched and pulled away, but Artie held her head steady. "Drink it." He ordered roughly. Claudia closed her lips and cringed at the taste, but seeing as how she was in all the way already, she swallowed the nasty stuff in one big gulp. "Good. Very good."

The red head was abandoned against the wall again. With her eyes closed, she was finally able to control her gasping for air and settle into rapid, but consistent breaths.

Artie grabbed her arm slowly, but she flinched against his touch anyway. He gripped her arm with more force and didn't let go. She felt him pull down her shirt collar a bit and hiss at what he saw. A small noise, then he pulled off the bandage from her earlier fight with the water buffalo and fluid rolled down her chest making the wound bubble and sting. Until that moment, she hadn't considered that she might have gotten neutralizer directly into her blood stream, but her brain was overloaded to the point of insanity, so she just followed Artie's lead. A few moments later, she heard his voice very close and tenderly saying, "How do you feel?" She just nodded her head up and down. "Claudia, open your eyes." She shook my head back and forth. Artie huffed through his nose. "The acid works fast. It should be fine by now." He paused. "Open your eyes."

Claudia desperately didn't want to listen to him but she knew she should. Trembling started in her chest again as she got nervous. Artie gripped her shoulder tightly, feeling her starting to shake. Before she can get herself too worked up, Claudia lowered her head and slowly opened her eyes.


	8. Dinner with an Octopus

First thing she saw was a dirt brown fabric layered on top of a dark forest green. Instantly, Claudia let out a whimper at seeing Artie's Mother Nature wardrobe. She brought her hand to her head; overcome with relief that it was over. Artie grabbed her before she tilted over, wrapping his arms around her protectively and drew her into him sideways. Suddenly Claudia was releasing all of the fear, tension and exhaustion all at once. Not knowing what else to do, Artie just held onto the girl, closing his eyes against the empathetic pain he felt and dipped his head against her as she sobbed.

She didn't remember a lot of the next few minutes, but Claudia knew that she probably lost a lot of her tough girl reputation and not a lot was said.

Long minutes later, her shaking finally abated and she started breathing full breaths again. She didn't change her position of leaning against Artie, but when she opened her eyes, she saw a crowd of heads in the small space of the trap door opening. Pete, Myka, and HG were all peeking up through the hole in the floor. Claudia duly noticed that the light was a normal yellow glow from light bulbs and not the red glow from hell, as before.

She was tired beyond what she thought was ever possible, but Claudia saw many concerned pairs of eyes so she tried to swallow with her dry throat and croak out, "Heya gang."

Pete and Myka broke out into relieved grins. "What did she say?" Claudia heard Leena's voice come up through the hole.

Pete looked down and said, "She said hello to the Scooby Gang!"

"That's good right?" Claudia heard HG's voice say. The girl grinned lazily at how she still didn't get all of the social references.

Claudia sighed, and Artie lifted her to sit up. As he gathered himself and stood, she glanced around the small room that trapped her for who knows how long. The walls were back to their normal wood color and the white floors were again perfectly normal, complete with that damn trap door that was hiding from her.

On the wall, the vent was back to its usual size. It was missing only one vein even though she remembered knocking two off of it. Claudia frowned at her memory of something that apparently didn't happen. Glancing at her fingers, she see a perfectly normal hand. There were neither cuts nor blood on her hand or down the front of her shirt either. Claudia shook her head at how totally encompassing the hallucination was.

"Everything ok?" She looked up and finally met Artie's brown eyes and saw them filled with concern. She could see the emotional toll that this whole escapade took on him in the weariness in his eyes but he was wholly present as he reached his hand down to help her up.

"Yeah. F-fine." Claudia accepted his help and he pulled her to her wobbly feet.

He kept a grip on her elbow, steadying her. "Ok?"

Claudia got her knees to hold her. "Yeah." She glanced up at his paternal face and saw that he was wearing a serious expression of protection and a red clown's nose. "Artie?"

He leaned in, eager to help. "Yes?"

"Should I still be seeing things?"

He flexed the muscles in his cheek and looked up over his glasses at the group of heads that he saw as a group of brown large mushrooms with eyes. He swallowed and simply said. "Yup."

"Ah. Ok then."

Soon, Claudia was being helped down the trap door ladder by so many people that she contemplated developing agoraphobia out of sheer convenience. HG slid her arm around Claudia's with the intent of support, but Claudia pulled back upon seeing an HG look-a-like, but with a purple complexion and eight wavy arms.

HG gave a hurt and confused look, so Claudia swallowed hard and closed her eyes and gave up her arm to a slimy embrace. By then she knew that HG was underneath the illusion of the octopus. Fortunately, when HG took her arm again, Claudia felt only a normal arm from a perfectly normal HG. Claudia sighed in relief and when she opened her eyes again, HG was back to her normal appearance. Artie's cure was working after all.

As Artie lowered himself from the small room, Pete folded the ladder up and eased the trap door into the ceiling. Leena, at the edge of the group, said in her melodic voice, "C'mon. Dinner's nearly ready."

"Dinner!" Claudia said incredulously. It seemed like she spent hours dealing with those horrors. "How long was I in there?"

Myka glanced at Artie looking for permission. He nodded with an inexplicable amused look on his face. She gave him a suspicious look, but said, "About thirty minutes."

"Only thirty minutes." Claudia repeated in amazement, letting HG guide her into the dining room. Claudia readjusted her time line mentally, the sting from her collar bone reminding her that the water buffalo artifact incident in the Warehouse was only a few hours before. As if to reinforce that memory, a pain from Claudia's leg reminds her of its scratch, making her stumble. Suddenly Pete is on the other side of her, escorting her into the dining room where the rest of the gang all piles in for a well deserved hot meal.

**Fin.**

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><p><strong>Happy Halloween!<strong>


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